June 17, 2026
Postcards From Enrique: Paris 2026
Maestro Mazzola on the many beauties of Rossini and the Palais Garnier.
Enrique Mazzola is no stranger to Paris. From 2012 to 2019, he served as Artistic and Music Director of the Orchestre National d’Île de France; in 2018 he was named a Chevalier de l’ordre des Arts et des Lettres. But this month, with Cenerentola, he steps for the first time onto the podium in one of the city’s great opera houses.
So this is your debut at the Paris Opera?
Yes. I have conducted many operas at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, which has a completely separate season from Opéra National de Paris. But this Cenerentola is actually my debut here, and I feel very honored to conduct in this magnificent, magnificent opera house. Inside is all red velvet and wood, and it smells like an old saloon where hundreds of musicians and intellectuals had their coffees and their conversations about the future.
The building is actually called the Palais Garnier.
It really is a palace. I've literally spent hours craning my neck towards the ceiling, because there is this huge Chagall fresco, which is an entire world by itself to examine, to read, to explore. It's so beautiful, and it’s amazing how this signature of modernity works with the almost Baroque classicism of the space.
Sounds wonderful.
Really, when you are inside you think of all the Massenet that happened there, all the Bizet, all the late Verdi – bellissimo. And what was very strange is that when I was first backstage, I thought – OK, where do I go? But then in the back of my mind I realized that it was not my first time backstage.
You toured there with the La Scala children’s chorus?
Yes! With Alban Berg’s Wozzeck, under Claudio Abbado, with director Giorgio Strehler. Gosh, I don't remember which year – 1980? 1978? But now I have gone from the stage of the Opera Garnier to the podium. It’s fantastic, really one of the capitals of the world for opera. Everyone works in the highest professional way – they have mastered the art of creating, scheduling, rehearsing.
Enrique Mazzola at the Palais Garnier
And how is the cast?
The lead is Vasilisa Berzhanskaya, who sang the role at Lyric. And of course a Lyric opera favorite, Larry Brownlee, who will appear in our Don Giovanni very soon, in October. We have Huw Montague Rendall, who was in our Magic Flute.
And your Don Magnifico?
Nicola Alaimo, who is one of the best Italian buffo baritones. Really, he's a tornado of Italianate spirit. The last time I was at the Rossini Festival, we did La gazzetta. It's not La gazza ladra, it's a very rare Rossini. So practically all the cast is a cast of friends. I knew them all so, so well. And the director is Guillaume Gallienne. He’s a member of the Comédie-Française, and actually a very famous TV and film actor in France. It’s been very nice to work with him.
And how is the production going?
Very successful. We have 13 performances, and they are all sold out.
Is Cenerentola really that popular?
It’s actually one of my favorite Rossini operas because it's not an opera buffa, it's a dramma giocoso. The comedy is triggered by a dramatic or difficult situation. And I will be living with this work for the next few years. It's very strange, as a conductor, how sometimes operas will disappear from your life for 20 years and then they suddenly appear for three seasons in a row. I'm doing a new production of Cenerentola in Glyndebourne next summer, and in 2028 I'm going to do another. But I can’t tell you where.
Enrique Mazzola backstage
Clearly, this work is more than just a fairy tale.
I like conducting this opera because between the phrases, between the characters, between the recits, there are so many nuances that maybe you won’t catch in Il barbiere di Siviglia or L'italiana in Algeri or Il turco in Italia. This is a drama about a young girl who doesn't believe in herself anymore. Whose money has been completely used up by her father to pay debts. The big difference between Cenerentola and Barber is that after you see Cenerentola, you go home thinking. And when you finish Barber, you go home laughing. I love how Rossini presents the sweetness of the girl, always singing her canzone, “Una volta c’era un re." She has a dream that is unreachable. And then the dream happens. I actually think Walt Disney learned a lot from buffo opera. Comical moments are greatly enhanced when placed in contrast with drama.
You’re working, but you are in Paris, after all. Have you visited any museums, or had any wonderful meals?
No museums – there has really been no time. But I had a fantastic lunch at a place called Bofinger. Sort of an Alsatian brasserie, near the Bastille. Really excellent.
A glass of Riesling perhaps?
No, it was between rehearsals. We don’t want to make the situation even more buffo.
